


Five Thousand Light Years Between Us

by tanksquid



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: It gets happier, M/M, hurting Lance, hurting keith, lots of feelings, pain and suffering for all, post-wormhole
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-20
Updated: 2017-01-18
Packaged: 2018-09-01 04:56:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8609560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tanksquid/pseuds/tanksquid
Summary: After the collapse of the wormhole, Keith and Lance must not only survive the harsh environment of a new planet, but also survive each other as they fight to make contact with the castle.





	1. Crashing Into You

Keith woke up to screams. The sound made his head ache but the pain was quickly ignored as he tried to remember what had happened.

_The wormhole. All of the lions scattering as they fell back. He remembers red crashing into blue and Lance screaming at him through the headset._  
_“Keith! What are you doing!” Lance was yelling, the panic clear as he watched the red lion spinning wildly as they resurfaced out of the wormhole._

_“Lance, I can’t control red... She’s not responding to me at all. Too much damage from the fight.” Keith tried to remain calm, but he was straining against the harness, pressing any button he could._

_Below them, the surface of a planet was becoming clear, the lions shaking as they reached the atmosphere of the densely forested ground. The vegetation was thick, with mountains to the right, and a body of water to the left. If they could land somewhere in the middle damage could be lessened._

_“Keith, you are heading straight into that ravine, get out of there!” Lance screeched into his ear. He hadn’t noticed the trees clearing, revealing a deep ravine between the trees with jagged rocks lining the bottom._

_Keith wonders if red will ever be pilotable again, if Voltron is going to fail because of his death. “Lance, I need y-” He begins whispers into the comm, moments before Lance slams into them, knocking the red lion into the trees as the blue lion crashes into the ravine below._

The thoughts jar him back to the screams and he quickly undoes his harness, dropping from his seat. He goes to slide out through the mouth of the red lion but stops; the head of the lion was resting over a ravine. It was at least a 40-ft drop with jagged rocks at the bottom, and also the source of the screaming. The blue lion had crashed below, Lance looked like he had managed to crawl out and was clutching his leg in pain.

“Lance!” Keith shouts, looking around for any way to get down. The blue paladin looks up, relieved to see him. He says something but Keith can’t hear before falling onto his back. “Lance, I’m gonna come down, just hold on.”

He steps back, pressing the button on his armor to activate the jetpack before he drops down slowly, using the sides of the ravine as a guide. Lance is laying on his back, for the most part looking fine, but as he reaches the bottom and gets closer he sees the bloody state of his leg. The bottom right leg of his suit was covered in blood and there was a flash of bone jutting from his shin, and no matter how many times he saw bloodshed during their fights, it still couldn’t prepare him for seeing it like this.

“Oh god, Lance.” Keith whispers, unsure of how he is supposed to help his teammate up.  
Lance mumbles something, his eyes closed but he’s breathing. Keith kneels beside him, taking the back of Lance’s head in his hand. “Lance, buddy come on, I need you to wake up.”

“Did you call me buddy?” Lance’s voice is weak but there's faint smile on his lips.

“Lance, come on, I need you to help me out.” Keith glances around them, before attempting to pull Lance’s shoulders up so he’s sitting. Lance gasps, cringing as his leg shifts.

“That hurts a bit” Scratch that, more like a lot. Lance’s breathing is heavy, but he seems to be more awake.

“I need to get you out of here, I don't like the look of this.” Keith stands, trying to figure out the best way to get back up. “Does your jetpack still work?”

“Not sure, was tossed around during the crash.”

“What happened to your harness?”

“Are you saying you - ah fuck!” Lance is clutching his leg, apparently having shifted too far. “Keith please, this hurts, really bad, dude.”

There’s blood leaking again, a thin stream bubbling from the clots around the bone. Lance lets out a whimper and it makes Keith’s chest pang with fear. This was very bad.

“Lance, take my hands, I’m going to put you up, but it’s going to hurt and I need you to put all of your weight on your good leg.” He stood in front of the blue paladin, hands out and bracing for Lance to fall.

Lance looked hesitant but took Keith’s hands in his own and braced his good leg before nodding. It was quick, but Lance stumbled forward with a yell, not touching the broken leg down. There were tears in his eyes as he grasped Keith's hands tightly.

“Do you think the others got out okay?” Lance whispers, staring down at the puddle of blood his leg had left behind.

Keith couldn’t answer, unsure whether to lie or tell the truth, but he had no time to think as Lance began passing out, his eyes fluttering before falling forward. “Lance!”

There was soft breathing against his neck and Keith clutched him tightly before activating the jet pack again, the pack sputtering slightly with the extra weight. He managed to get back onto the ledge where the red lion had crashed and put Lance down gently before heading back into the lion to see what he could find. The Lion was heavily damaged from the fight with Zarkon, he knew that, but had yet to see the gashes in the metal from the outside. It was no wonder Shiro had to save him, Red was completely wrecked. _Shiro..where are you? You were right beside me when we went through…so where are you now?_

A groan from Lance reminded him of his mission, and Keith quickly ducked back into the red lion, trying to find anything useful inside. Coran surely had the lions stocked for emergencies, right?


	2. Wake Up the Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance decides the first thing he wants when they get back is a giant bowl of green goo.

“Can anyone read me? Allura, Coran? Anyone? Please, we’ve crashed and..and we need help.” Keith remained still, waiting for anything but static to come through. He tried not to let Lance see his disappointment and dropped the helmet back to the ground with a sigh.

  
“Will the battery ever run out on that thing?” Lance asked quietly, looking up at Keith from his makeshift bed.

  
“I’m really not sure, I didn’t see any way to even try. It might be like the jet packs, though.”

  
They both glanced at the discarded jumpsuits they had been wearing. Keith’s pack was completely emptied of fuel from his trips back and forth between the two lions. Lance’s blue suit had a distinct reddish brown splattered across the armor from the quick drying blood.

  
The brunette stared up at Keith. Always on top of things, always prepared, always better than him, Keith. The dark haired teen’s face was scrunching with worry as he watched their suits lay against the Red Lion and Lance almost forgot the guy really was human. The red paladin may have hated sharing feelings with anyone, but Lance could see the worry dripping from his shoulders.  
  
“How many red paladins does it take to change a lightbulb, Keith?”  
  
The dark haired teen sighed, prepared for another lame attempt at humor. Lance’s broken leg kept them from exploring much and two of them could only let fear stop them from bickering for so long. Keith had been spending most of his time gathering up anything to make a shelter out of while Lance sat here trying to find some way to get on his nerves.   
  
“Just two, one to change the lightbulb, the other to brush his mullet.”  
  
“Lance, that was terrible. I’m not even going to humor that by pretending to be annoyed.” Keith stood up from his rock and headed into Red..  
  
He had been correct, in that Coran had made sure the lions were well supplied with emergency med kits and some provisions, like a tarp and rope. However, there was a definite lack of food, and Coran’s kits only contained four water bottles each. It was hard to track time, since the planet apparently had two suns, and it always felt like daytime. His body was so used to sleeping at night, that without the darkness, it was hard for him to feel comfortable closing his eyes with Lance so defenseless.  
  
_They had set Lance’s leg as soon as he found the health kit. Lance had given protest when Keith used his knife to help cut away the fabric around his leg, but they could always get new suits, and he wasn’t risking trying to pull of the fabric with bone already ripped through. After that, Keith gave Lance his leather notebook to bite down on, the fear in his eyes already apparent. He could feel Lance trembling when he put his fingers to the skin, blood dried and flaking off at the light touch._  
  
_“Lance, on the count of three I want you to bite down as hard as you can.” Keith nodded at the tan paladin, who stared back at him. “One….two...Lance bite down, three!”_  
_The snap was sickening and Lance’s scream was horrible, but the leg was set back in place. Keith looked distraught watching Lance drop the notebook and sob in pain, his wails echoing off the metal of the lion._  
  
Keith poked his head out of the lion, looking at Lance on the ground. Lance was still pouting from Keith’s remark earlier.

  
“Why do you keep looking at me like that? What do you expect? Me to drag my ass into the forest, Keith?”  
  
Keith narrowed his eyes at the other paladin, “Just checking to make sure you aren’t dying from heat stroke.”  
  
Not only did the two sources of sunlight bring constant daytime, it also brought almost unbearable heat during the peak hours. Keith had stripped them of the suits completely, leaving both of them in their under clothes. Lance swears Keith had fun stripping him, but after Keith threatening to destroy all the pain medication, he dropped that quickly. Instead they spent most of their time huddled in the shade of the two tarps Keith had put together in an attempt of a makeshift shelter.

  
_“Does this feel like home, Keith?” Even with a severely broken leg, the blue paladin always had a wisecrack prepared._

  
“Do we have any more water?” Lance sat up, the sweat had been dripping from the back of his neck and forming a puddle under him.

  
“Some and a half. You dropped the other half yesterday.”

  
Lance cringed at the thought, passing out and dropping a bottle of water on himself wasn’t one of the finer moments in his life. Especially when they were already so low. Keith held the half full bottle to Lance, his eyebrows furrowed with worry.

“Just take a small sip. I don’t want to open another bottle yet.”

  
Lance did as instructed, making sure to carefully drink from it. The warm liquid was soothing on his dry tongue, but it wasn’t satisfying his thirst at all. He held the liquid in his mouth for a few seconds before swallowing and handing it back to Keith.

  
“I’m going to go see if I can find anything else to eat. Are you cool with being alone?” Keith took out his bayard, the sword forming quickly.

  
Lance placed his hand on his own bayard, Keith had recovered it from the wreckage of the blue lion, along with any supplies he found. “Yeah, I’m good.”

  
Keith gave him a nod before turning towards the forest.

  
“See if there’s any wild cheeseburgers in there, Keith!” Lance called after him.

* * *

  
He could see one of the suns setting in the distance, the temperature barely dropping, but it let him know it was about time to head back. Keith had spent nearly every day out here looking for any water or food. Pidge had equipped everyone with a bio reader after one mission left them all sick from contaminated food. Now they could test nearly anything and figure out if it was safe for human consumption, and so far Keith had managed to find at least three poisonous vegetable things, and one fruit that was edible.

  
_“This is literally the worst thing I have ever tasted, Keith.”_

  
_“Come on, it can’t be that that bad, and it’s more nutritious than the leaves I saw you eating yesterday.”_

  
_Lance let out an indignant squawk at that, but didn’t deny it, “Dude, I was starving.”_

  
_Keith chuckled, popping one of the thick bulbs into his mouth. Lance cackled beside him as he gagged on the foul tasting fruit and began spitting it out._

  
Oh well, bitter berries are better than no food at all.

  
Keith tugged the crude bag he had made over his shoulder; it was almost time to head back. He didn’t like leaving Lance at the camp alone. The kid may have his gun, but there was no way for him to escape if anyone got close. The thought makes him hurry back, sword at the ready.

  
Lance pretends not to be overjoyed at Keith’s arrival. He looks at the sack of fruit and mumbles something about the green goo being better than this. Keith sighs and sits down on his rock while Lance peels the maroon skin off the bitter berry and plucks out one of the bulbs.

  
“These remind me of pomegranates you know? Just easier to peel and more disgusting.” Lance eats another bulb.

  
“I wouldn’t know. Never had one.” Keith says, taking one of the bulbs from Lance’s slice. It truly was awful, but Keith needed his strength to keep going into the woods every day.

  
“You’ve seriously never had a pomegranate? Dude, they are like, fruits from the gods.”

  
Keith tried to remember why they sounded familiar, “Wasn’t that like, an actual fruit from the gods in Greek mythology?”

  
Lance perked up, ‘Yeah! You know Hades? He tricks this chick Persephone into staying with him forever by getting her to eat a pomegranate seed.”

  
“That must suck to be her.”

  
Lance nods, “It does. But her mom gets to see her like, half the year. And then she goes back into the underworld to live with Hades during the winter.”

  
Keith seems mildly surprised to find Lance actually rambling about something interesting for once, “How do you know all that? I don’t remember that being something taught at the Garrison.”

  
Lance laughs, “Well, I have younger brothers, and they all really like this book series all about Greek myths, and so reading it to them- it’s hard not to pick up on that kinda stuff.”

  
“You read to your brothers often?”

  
Lance nods, “Yeah! Like all the time when I’m home. I’m basically the coolest older brother ever. They…” Lance pauses, “They were really proud of me when I joined the Garrison, you know? I told them I was gonna be a bigshot pilot one day, especially after the great Keith Kogane left.”

  
“They wouldn’t have been proud of you as a cargo pilot?” Keith asks, ignoring the bitterness in Lance’s voice when he says his name.

  
“My family would have been proud of anything I did,” Lance’s eyes are growing red, “And I think they’d be really, really proud to know what I’ve been doing up here. Saving different worlds.”

  
Keith doesn’t know how to respond, and stares at the ground between them. He knew what they did was something to be proud of, but he felt empty at the thought that he had no one to be proud of him, sure he had his teammates, but he wasn’t even sure if he had them anymore. He sighs, letting Lance continue to wallow in his feelings on the ground.

“I’m taking a walk.”

  
He treks back into the forest, wanting to clear his mind of any thoughts that their teammates could be hurt. Keith tried to think of what was near them, before they crashed. He knew there was a body of water near them, but it was more than a couple hours away, possibly an entire Earth day from what he remembered. He couldn’t leave Lance alone yet, the break in his leg was still terrible, and the pain medication was doing nothing to stave off any possible infection. He hears something snap behind him and quickly spins, hand reaching for his bayard but finding nothing. _Fuck, I left it next to Lance._ Behind him, a furred creature huffs at him, it was maybe knee height, but the pointed teeth jutting from its mouth gave enough indication that it was dangerous.

  
Keith was quick to jump out of the way when it charged, running back towards the camp. The creature followed, making a high pitched squeal as they ran through the forest. He saw the clearing up ahead, shouting for Lance.

  
The blue paladin looked shocked at the sight of Keith, looking frazzled as he exited the forest in a sprint. His confusion was quick to change to fear at the sight of the beast chasing and quickly formed his gun, aiming it at the monster. He shot twice before it shuddered and focused on Lance, Keith no longer a target. Instead it huffed at him before running towards the blue paladin, Lance gasped, trying to back up but his leg slowing him down. Keith suddenly lets out a yell as he tackles the beast, his small knife in hand a he stabs down. It lets out an airy squeal before falling limp, the red paladin leaning over its body panting. 

  
“What the quiznak is that thing?” Lance sat down the gun, the bayard returning to normal beside him. “And where is your sword?”

  
Keith picked up his own weapon from the ground, clutching it in his hand. “I forgot it.”

  
Lance glares, “How do you forget something like that? It’s the only weapon you have and you decided to run off in the forest like an angsty teenager with no defense? Do you have a death wish, dude?”

  
Keith grips his bayard tighter, “If you hadn’t noticed, I’m a little preoccupied, Lance. I am the only one attempting to still get in contact with the others, I am constantly taking care of your ass and getting all of the food. I haven’t slept in days and you just sit around whining all day about how much you miss everyone." He knows he’s being unfairly harsh, but the adrenaline is still rushing through him, keeping him on edge, and right now Lance is about to push him over it. "Crying isn't going to save us."

  
Lance glowers deeper, “If you hadn’t noticed, my leg is broken because I saved you from dying. Remember that Keith? So this is your fault because you had to fucking go and try to save the world by yourself and wreck your lion. Which, by the way, is now in much better condition than blue, who is so destroyed, I’m not sure we can ever form Voltron again.”

  
They are both scowling at each other, the anger seeping from every inch of them.

  
“I wish you hadn’t saved me. I would rather be dead than have to take care of you, you ungrateful asshole.” Keith turns on his heel quickly, deciding that he would rather camp inside the lion alone, even if it was sweltering hot.

  
“it’s a two-way street, buddy. Two-fucking-way street.” Lance says at his back.  
________________________________

Keith clearly feels guilt. Lance knows this from the way the red paladin chucks half a bottle of water at him from the lion. He tries to show the feeling was mutual by throwing him a fruit in response, but it hits the nose of the lion and instead bounces into the ravine.

  
“Nice aim.”

  
“I’m injured, you jerk!”

  
“Your leg is broken, not your fucking arm.”

  
Lance huffs in return before falling backwards, the movement jostles his leg slightly and he winces in pain. It was definitely better now that the bone was back in place, but he worried about the open wound, wrapped with the limited amount of gauze between the two lions. Keith was trying his best to stay calm and take care of Lance, but he knew it was stressful for the both of them. Whenever Keith would leave he could feel himself tense up, keeping a watchful eye around the camp. Every breeze reminded him how lucky they were to have landed on a planet with a decent amount of oxygen. It was much lower, and it took some adjustments to get used to, but it was better than nothing.

  
Keith eventually came out of the lion, dripping with sweat and looking miserable. They both knew it was hotter inside the lion than out here, that’s why the camp was outside. The red paladin had attempted to cool himself by tying his hair up, and as much as Lance wanted to comment on it he didn’t want to start another fight.

  
They both stayed silent for a long time. Lance had fallen asleep once, Keith watching over him from the corner of his eye. Even as mad as they had been, they knew they would protect each other, that’s what they did. They were defenders of the universe, and currently the universe was two teenage boys thrust into a fight they were never prepared to fight. Lance woke up to find Keith laying down beside him. They were by no means touching, but they were still so close. He could see the tight frown Keith wore on his face, even when asleep apparently. Lance smiled, it seemed so easy to like the guy when they weren’t fighting.

  
Keith’s eyes opened slightly, aware somehow that he was being watched. “Are you okay, Lance?”

  
Lance nodded, “You should sleep Keith, those bags under your eyes are definitely exceeding the 50lb weight limit, you might have to check them before getting on the flight.”

  
He could have sworn Keith smiled before he tucked his head under his arm, trying to cover his face from the sunlight. Lance sat up, unraveling the clothes Keith had piled together as a pillow for him to use. He tossed the red leather jacket over the red paladin’s head, trying to shield him from some of the sunlight.

  
Lance, no longer wanting to sleep tried looking around him for anything to pass the time. It was so incredibly boring having to sit like this, but until Keith whipped up a pair of crutches, he wasn’t going anywhere. The red helmet sat a few feet away, a little out of arms reach, but Lance was able to crawl a few extra inches without too much pain. He slid it on, noticing it smelled very strongly of Keith and sweat, and pressed the talk button.

  
“Hello? Can anyone hear me? My name is Lance McClain and we’ve crashed on an awful planet that’s incredibly way too hot. If this planet was a person, it’d be Beyoncé.”

  
He chuckled lightly at his own joke before rolling onto his back, the silent helmet still on his head. There was never any response, Keith tried not to look dejected every time, but Lance could feel his disappointment radiating. Lance sighed and closed his eyes, another nap sounding nice as he began humming to himself, eventually nodding off to the thought of being home again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Chapters will be getting longer. I'll try to post whenever I can, at least once week. I'm winding down the end of my semester, and I'll probably write a bunch over Thanksgiving break. S/o to my wonderful beta. 
> 
> Also you can find me on tumblr @princess-tentacles  
> Eventually I'll post my doodles for this. 
> 
> Feel free to send feedback or happy comments! <3


	3. A Sky Full of Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance bond over broken crutches and Keith's sun exhaustion.

“Do you know what I miss the most right now?”

 

“Everyone?”

 

“Yes, but no, besides that.”

 

“Beyonce?”

 

“Oh my god, okay, it was one dream, besides that!”

 

“I don’t know, Lance, is there anything you can miss more than Coran’s green goo?”

 

“I miss seeing the stars, and our friends, and getting to pilot blue around.”

 

There is a quiet silence between the two teens lying on their backs. They were exhausted between Keith’s back and forth visits to the jungle and Lance attempting to create a pair of crutches. Each visit had brought back more fruit, but so far no water. The red paladin thought there might be a stream close by, however, and was getting ready to head out when Lance had stopped him to see the crutch he had made with Keith’s knife. Unfortunately, the crutch completely broke apart as soon the other put any weight onto it.

 

_“You broke it!”_

_“Did not! You just suck at making things.”_

_“The wood isn’t strong enough, these trees are so pathetic I could kick them over.”_

 

Sitting at their feet was the broken remnants of that attempt, and Lance was too discouraged to try another. This planet just seemed so wrong, it was amazing how anything was surviving here, including them. Their diet so far consisted of a little water and the bitter fruit, and occasionally a salad of just leaves for Lance.

 

“Do you think there’s any intelligent life here?”

 

“Besides me, no.” Keith gave the other a smirk.

 

“Jerk, I’m being serious.”

 

“So am I.”

 

Lance huffed, “I’m trying to have serious conversations with you and all you keep doing is sassing me back! What’s up with that, Keith? You’re doing my job.”

 

Keith shrugged, “I don’t know. I just feel tired, and I’m actually in a good mood, so I kinda wanna enjoy it without having to think about our chances of survival to bring me down.”

 

Lance was silent, watching as Keith closed his eyes. _Oh look, he’s not scowling._ The dark haired teen was soon napping, and Lance was glad he was resting. He wasn’t sure how long it had been since they landed, but he estimated at least a week since the crash. They had been getting by, but Keith was struggling with sleeping and the heat was terrible. Their shelter was nice at blocking the sun, but it didn’t help much in cooling them down.

 

Lance sat up, looking over his leg now that Keith couldn’t tell him to stop picking at the bandages. It definitely felt better than before, but there was still something off with it. It wasn’t a sore ache, but sharp pains occasionally when he moved, like needles. He glanced at Keith again before fixing the bandages and laying back. There was something about spending time on an uninhabited planet with your rival and that made you wonder if it was ever worth it to fight so much. The more things Lance found out about Keith the less he seemed to care about any competition, and while they both argued and got on each other’s nerves, he wanted to be Keith’s friend.

 

Keith woke up a little later, his tired eyes looking no better, to see Lance paging through the leather notebook from before. The brown haired boy was entranced by the pages, very carefully taking each page into his fingers before turning to the next one.

 

“Did you draw all of this?” Lance noticed Keith staring at him, “It’s like, really good.”

 

No one could see the blush on his already sun-flushed cheeks, but Keith nodded, little smile forming.

 

“It this all from you in the desert?”

 

“No, some of it from before, but it’s just trees and plants and stuff. I wanted to be a boy scout when I was younger, so I spent a lot of time trying to learn what plants were poisonous or how to tell where you were without a compass.”

 

“Well, all of that information is clearly valuable here.” Lance teased.

 

Keith chuckled, “Yeah, no North Star to point me home here. And clearly we have so many California Redwood trees here.” He pointed to one of the beautifully illustrated leaves in the journal.

 

“Hey, why didn’t you become a boy scout?” Lance turns to another page reading the small, neat handwriting describing how to extract water from a cactus.

 

“Couldn’t really join anything like that.” Keith shrugged, reaching out to look at the next page. “I don’t have a family. My mom made it pretty clear she didn’t want anything to do with me, and my dad left before I was born. So I was in and out of different homes until they stopped tracking me. Never stayed in one place for long until the Garrison.”

 

“Dude.”

 

“Yeah, I know. So ‘angsty’ and ‘emo’, right, Lance?” Keith laughs, “But don’t worry about it. I’m better now and I’ve done fine without them. Shiro basically adopted me when he found out.”

 

“I think this is the most you’ve ever told me about your life.” Lance says incredulously.

 

“I didn’t trust you before. You were some random guy who hated me for no reason.”

 

“That’s fair, but also it wasn’t random. It is perfectly normal for competition amongst the top performers.”

 

Keith rolled his eyes, “Sure, but who other than yourself considered you a top performer?”

 

“All of my ex-girlfriends did!”

 

“It’s not hard to out compete your right hand, Lance.” Keith grinned at the way Lance sputtered and went completely red.

 

“Geez, Keith, way to knock a guy down.”

 

The red paladin chuckles, still smiling at Lance. There’s a moment of silence, neither of them realizing how long they were staring at each other before Lance begins to talk again.

 

“So does that mean you trust me now?”

 

Keith blinks, “Huh?”

 

“You said you wouldn’t have told me that stuff before ‘cause you didn’t trust me then. Does that mean you trust me now?”

 

Keith shrugs, “We’re a team now, you would have seen it in my head eventually.” Lance frowns and Keith quickly continues, “Yeah, I trust you, Lance. You’re doing a great job keeping all of us together.”

Lance grins big, “Awh, Keith, buddy you care!”

The red paladin laughs before sitting up, taking his journal back into his hands and flipping to a blank page.

“Do you think I should document the bitter berries in here?”

Lance notes the change in conversation and doesn’t push it, glad to have seen Keith open up to him as much as he had so far.

“Yeah, but you should draw me puking my guts out instead of the fruit. It looks much better than it tastes, so you don’t wanna give them the false idea that it might be good.”

“They? Who all do you think is gonna see this? You’re lucky I let you look at it!”

Lance points at the journal cover, “Dude, I now partially own this. My teeth have claimed it, and I wanna publish it.”

“Hell. No. This is mine, and your nasty little teeth did nothing but harm the cover. No ownership allowed.”

“Nasty?! My teeth are wonderful! I only had to wear braces for a single year because they were so good.”

“Well I never had to wear braces, so mine are better.”

“Jerk.”

“Asshat.”

They both glare before Keith smiles and laughs again. Lance grins, laying on his back and staring up at grey of the tarp. Keith settles beside him and sighs, the playful bickering was great at keeping them distracted.

“Wanna know which is my favorite star?” Lance says quietly, knowing Keith’s head was near his shoulder. “It’s more like a collection of stars, but it makes up one cool constellation.”

“Is it more Greek mythology?”

Lance nods, “Yeah, it’s the Seven Sisters. It’s a cluster of stars, but it’s named after the kids that Atlas and Pleione have together. You know who Atlas is, right? The guy who is cursed to carry the world on his shoulders? He like is cursed forever, but still finds time to bang chicks.”

Keith hums in response, his body inching closer.

“Yeah well he and this sea-nymph get together – that’s Pleione by the way, and they end up having like a shit-ton of kids, but their daughters are all magical like their mom and they have powers and stuff. Oh yeah, and she’s the guardian of sailing. Although sometimes peo-“

Lance stops when he realizes Keith is snoring lightly.

“Way to fall asleep while people are talking to you, bro.”

Keith smiles, “you should sleep too.” He whispers, eyes still closed.

“No manners.” Lance whispers back, but moves against Keith. Despite the awful heat, it was comforting to wake up knowing you weren’t alone. The red paladin draped an arm across Lance’s stomach as if to silence any thoughts the other was having, and cuddled against him. _Nothing better to do_ , he thought before sighing, more ready for a nap than he thought.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I should be studying for my art exam but here I am updating again. My sister says I'm posting the chapters too fast, so this might be my last update for a few days. 
> 
> The upcoming chapters are going to be a lot more serious, I'm really excited. I have pretty much the whole story line done, the rating may go up *wiggles eyebrows*. 
> 
> Like always, thanks for reading and leaving kudos. It makes me really excited to see them! <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge and Shiro find themselves somewhere entirely different.

The air is filled with a distinct artificial cherry and warm cinnamon smell. Neither scent goes together, but Pidge can place each smell with specific memories. The artificial cherry smell of red slushies the summer before Matt left, their hands sticky and sweet from the syrupy ice melting, mouths stained as they grinned. Their parents had taken them to an amusement park, letting the two of them run off on their own.

“Wanna ride that one?” Matt says, pointing up ahead to a twisting green coaster.

“Again? You’re gonna puke.” Pidge grins, dumping the remnants of the cup into her mouth. “Let’s do it. First one to hurl does dishes all next week.”

“You’re on.”

In the end, Matt puked first, Pidge following after, the car ride back miserable from the stomach aches, but when asked if they had a good time, both responded yes.

The cinnamon was the smell of Mrs. Holt, her cinnamon sweet hand lotion she always put on. There had been bottles of it everywhere, an easy gift for when they had no idea what to give her for Christmas or her Birthday, or even Mother’s Day. Even their father had some on him, either a small tube in his car or in the office. Pidge wondered if he took it with him with he left for Kerberos, wanting to keep the scent of their mother close.

There was a gentle shaking, the memories fading as Pidge opened her eyes, her cheeks feeling wet for some reason.

“Pidge? Pidge, are you awake?” A familiar voice said above.

She blinked away the tears in her eyes as she sat up, “Shiro?”

The black paladin smiled softly, apparently kneeling beside her cot. She glances around the room, realizing they aren’t in the castle quickly.

“Where are the lions?” Pidge looks back at a now standing Shiro. “Where are we? Is Lance and Hu-“ Shiro raises a hand to pause her.

“One question at a time, Pidge. I hit my head, too, falling down.” By reflex she raises her hand to her head, feeling taught bandages wrapping around the crown. “We landed on a port planet, it’s currently not under rule of the Galra. The people here were very generous and quick to help, you’ve been healing here for a bit.”

Pidge nods, “Where’s the others?”

Shiro frowns a little, “I’m working with their scientists to get the comm system back up and running. Right now we can only communicate within short distance, I haven’t been able to contact anyone else.”

“So, we’re stranded on a planet with no allies?”

“The planet is ruled by Ovatarians, who used to be one of planets Voltron had sworn to protect. Once we get a hold of Allura, they would like to renegotiate.” Shiro says it firmly, the leader in him masking the fear they both feel.

Pidge stares at her feet before swinging them over the cot and standing, “I would like to meet them, the Ovatarians.”

___

The Ovatarians are calm, soft spoken people with large green antlers poking out from long wefts of white hair. The older they are, the longer the hair it seems. The two Paladins approach the council room, heads bowed. It felt odd wearing their helmets inside, but they needed the translators to understand.

Onodo, introduced herself as the head of their council, seemingly more eager than the others to hear them talk.

“I thought the Voltron Paladins were a myth, nothing but old child’s tale.” Her smooth voice is calming, the translators mimicking the tone of her voice.

“We are very real, and very much in your debt for rescuing us.” Shiro says.

She waves her hand, “Our planet is home to many, we would never turn our backs on possible allies, and you are very clearly not Galra.”

Another alien stands, “Our home is open to you, young Paladins. We will gladly accommodate until you are able to reach the others. We very much look forward to meeting the Princess, and strengthening our bond again with Voltron. “

Shiro nods, bowing slightly before speaking, “Thank you again for what you are doing for us, if you need any help, Pidge here is actually wonderful with the technology and could probably be of use.”

Pidge’s face lights up, eager to see her lion.

 

The lions were in mostly good condition. Shiro said they were functioning for the most part, but there was some damage to the black lion that would hinder any kind of space travel. The green lion, seemed in near perfect condition, just some minor denting.

“This shouldn’t take long at all to fix, actually.” Pidge ran her hand over the thick metal. “Especially since I have some extra help.”

Shiro gave her a smile, “Let me know if you need any extra help. I’m going to go discuss politics with the council and see what kind of political environment we’re in.”

The black paladin started to turn, heading back to the doorway, before Pidge called his name softly.

“Shiro, when you woke up…what’d you smell?”

He looked thoughtful for a moment, “That was from the healing salve they used on your head injury. It’s supposed to trigger your olfaction senses to make you calm when you wake up.”

With that, Shiro left, leaving Pidge alone with her tools and two damaged lions, and an empty feeling in her chest.

“Guess it’s just you and me, Green.” She said, patting the lion as she started to inspect the damage, the eyes glowing faintly at the presence of its paladin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long break on updating, I was finishing up my semester and had a lot of personal issues that kept me from writing. Here is this update! I will be working on more sometime this week, hopefully getting all of that posted soon.


End file.
